External sales include information technology, global services, and tourism.
While Uruguayan goods exports completed a mixed two-year period—with both positive and negative annual results—the services sector consolidated its dynamism with consecutive sales increases. It also accounted for almost a third of total exports in 2024.
Service transactions totaled US$6.948 billion, a 1% year-over-year increase, according to the Uruguay XXI Institute. The increase was primarily due to the boost in non-traditional services, offset by a decline in tourism exports.
The sector has been experiencing a period of activity expansion since 2021. That year, it surpassed the figures from 2020 (the beginning of the pandemic) and from then on, it accumulated increases until 2024.
Last year, exports of goods were accompanied by strong performance, which closed at US$13.875 billion and an annual increase of 14%. This result was also influenced by the improved performance of the soybean harvest, which had been affected by drought the year before.
On the one hand, the sector is made up of non-traditional services.
These include global sectors—computer science, professional and consulting, financial, telecommunications, technical, intellectual property and personal, cultural and recreational—and other non-traditional sectors.
On the other hand, there are traditional services, such as tourism and transportation and related services.
Of the total US$6.948 billion, 57% (US$3.975 billion) corresponded to non-traditional exports and 43% (US$2.973 billion) to traditional sales.
The report explained that global services showed year-over-year growth of 1%, with loans totaling US$3.837 billion.
Among them, exports of professional and consulting services stood out, with US$1.855 billion (a positive change of 1%), IT services with US$1.181 billion, financial services with US$347 million, and communications services with US$173 million.
Uruguay XXI mentioned exports from the information technology (ICT) sector. It grouped together sales of computer and telecommunications services, which totaled US$1.354 billion.
In 2024, the ICT sector accounted for 17% of Uruguay's services exports.
The top destinations were the United States with 82% and the United Kingdom with 8%. Spain, Canada, France, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina followed with 1%.
TOURISM
Last year, 3.3 million tourists entered Uruguay, representing a 13% decline compared to 2023.
Furthermore, excluding non-resident Uruguayans, the arrival of 2.7 million foreign tourists was recorded, a 7% decrease compared to the previous year.
The largest number were Argentinians with 1.7 million; then non-resident Uruguayans with 580,000, Brazilians with 468,000, and 181,000 from the rest of the Americas.
The document added, using data from the Central Bank (BCU), that tourist spending in Uruguay reached US$2.189 billion in 2024, a 3% decrease compared to 2023.
OTHER SERVICES
Exports of transportation and related services reached US$784 million in 2024, a 10% increase over the previous year.
Personal, cultural, and recreational services operations totaled US$99 million, representing a 19% increase. Of that total, US$24 million were audiovisual.
Intellectual property exports, meanwhile, amounted to US$115 million, up 1% year-over-year.
